Listen:  153.5

Let’s read the teaching of the Rapture found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 

Now let’s read the account of what happens to those involved in the Rapture in 1 Corinthians 15:51-57, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

Notice that those who are involved in the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4are said to be “in Christ.”  Notice those who are changed at the Rapture in 1 Corinthians 15are given the victory “through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Who are those who are ‘in Christ’?  Who are those who have victory ‘through our Lord Jesus Christ’?  It is those who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  We read in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  We read in Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

So, who will be raised or changed at the Rapture and “meet the Lord in the air”?  Only those, and all of those who have been saved.  Those who obeyed the instruction of Romans 10:9which says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”  Will Muslims be raptured to Heaven?  Well, it doesn’t matter if you’re Muslim, Buddhist, Jehovah’s Witness, or someone who has attended church services all their life, only those who truly know Christ as their savior will be involved in the Rapture.  The Lord Himself said in John 14:6, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  (153.5)